


Bruised But Not Broken

by StoriesOfImagination



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Past Child Abuse, alternate season 2, flommy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 10:30:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6325465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriesOfImagination/pseuds/StoriesOfImagination
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity has had a worse than usual day - kidnapped and beaten, then questioned for hours by the police. She is a walking bruise and just wants to fall into bed, preferably with some of Digg's really good aspirin. Then Tommy shows up at her apartment with the cure for what ails her. She has to wonder - how does Tommy know so much about healing bruises?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bruised But Not Broken

Felicity kicked off her heels in the hallway of her apartment and paused for a moment, one hand resting on the wall, while the world blurred a little at the edges. She breathed carefully, each breath telling her where each rib and bruise was. When she could open her eyes without swaying, she continued down the hallway to the kitchen.

_Painkillers, bath, bed._

It was the mantra which had gotten her through the second hour at the police station. She knew they had to be thorough when they took her statement - after all, she had been the victim and was their most important witness - but after hours on a hard chair answering questions, she had spent the last of her reserves.

She was almost at the kitchen when she heard the chime of her doorbell. Groaning, she turned around and walked back to peer through the peephole.

Tommy was standing there with two paper bags and a serious expression on his face.

Opening the door, she mustered up a tired smile. She didn’t miss the way his eyes found every bruise and scrape on her face and arms.

“Tommy, what are you doing here?”

“Can I come in?” He asked softly.

“Sure,” she shrugged and then immediately regretted the movement. Wincing in pain, she turned back down the hallway and heard Tommy close the door and follow behind. “So Laurel was at the police station. She told me you laid into Oliver pretty well. She said it was about the angriest she’d ever seen you.”

Pausing at the entrance to the kitchen, she turned and put a hand on his arm. “You know it wasn’t his fault this time, right?” She sighed and walked into the kitchen. “This one was aaaaall me.”

Tommy helped her into one of the two chairs at her small table and then filled the kettle and set it to heat up.

“Are you hungry?” He asked, pulling things out of his bags. “I brought matzo ball soup.”

She swallowed the lump which appeared in her throat. Everything hurt, and if she started to cry she might not stop. “Yeah, that’s perfect actually.” Her voice sounded rough even to her own ears. She began to stand and Tommy stopped her.

“What do you need? Let me help.”

“Why are you here, Tommy?” She asked, her voice shaking with unspent emotion.

Crouching down in front of her so that their heads were level, Tommy rested his hand gently on hers. “You look after this whole team, Felicity. Let someone take care of you for a change.”

Her chest was tight as she took a deep breath before saying, “Could I get a glass of water? And I need my pain killers-- in the drawer next to the sink.”

Nodding, Tommy fetched them for her, before pouring some soup into a bowl and heating it in the microwave for a minute. He set it before her with a spoon and napkin. Then turning back to the stove, he pulled out a saucepan from one of the cupboards, filled it with water, and lit the flame.

She watched him curiously while she ate. The fragrant broth soothed her throat and filled her stomach, unknitting the ball of anxiety there with each passing minute.

Pulling out a large box of chamomile tea from his bag, he dropped one tea bag into a mug and about twenty more into the saucepan.

“That’s a lot of tea,” she noted. “Thirsty, Tommy?”

He grinned and placed the mug in front of her. “This one’s for drinking, the rest are medicinal in a different way.” Sitting across from her, he folded his arms comfortably on top of the table. “So Laurel said something about corporate espionage?”

Felicity nodded in reply while she ate the last two bites of soup then pushed the bowl away with a contented sigh. “They were professionals hired for the job, grabbed me in the parking garage. They took me to one of those crappy warehouses by the docks which we are getting to know _far too well_. Tied me up, dumped me on the ground (ruined my dress - assholes), and set up a camera.” She snorted mirthlessly, “They actually expected me to make my own ransom tape - my release in exchange for the new tech my department is working on. They thought that I would be easy - a young girl in charge of R &D - a pushover! They made sure to tell me about the men twice my size they’ve broken over the years.”

“I don’t imagine you went easy on them.” Tommy said, eyebrows high.

“Yeah, I told them where they could stick their camera.” Felicity pulled the mug towards her, letting the warmth seep into her fingers and ground her. “That’s when they got rough. They figured if they hit me, I would cooperate. I bit one guy, kicked another in the balls.” She took a sip of tea, her hands shaking as they set the cup back down. “So they tied my feet together and kicked me.”

The memory flashed vividly through her mind of boots flying into her as she curled in on herself. A sob tore past her throat and a tremor ran through her body. Tommy knelt in front of her and gently wrapped his arms around her.

“It’s okay Felicity. You don’t have to be brave anymore.”

She cried then, for the first time that night. Burying her face in the warmth of his shoulder, she let go of all the terror she had wrapped up tightly inside of her, all of her fear and doubt, which she had pushed down through the kidnapping, through the rescue and fight, even through the questioning at the police station. She finally felt safe enough to let go.

After a while, her sobs lessened and she felt like she could breathe again for the first time since she was taken. Tommy’s hands were moving in soothing patterns over her back, and when he felt her calm, he gave her a gentle hug.

The hiss of the water boiling over brought them back to the present. Tommy stood and turned off the heat, then grabbed a box of tissues off the counter and passed them to Felicity.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Of course,” he said, seriously. “You know...Laurel told me the reason they found you so quickly - before those men even had a chance to ask for a ransom - was because of the tracker in your shoe. _Your_ tracker, Felicity. The ones you insisted that the entire team wear. _You saved yourself_. Don’t ever forget that.”

She nodded, balling the used tissues up in her palm. A huge yawn took over her face, and suddenly all she wanted to do was sleep.

“Before you fall asleep on me, can I take care of your injuries? Please?”

“Okay,” she nodded.

He glanced down at her dress, which was torn and dirty. “Do you have a robe or something you can put on instead of the dress? You can leave your underwear on, I just need to be able to get at your bruises.”

“Hanging on the bathroom door.”

A minute later he was carefully unzipping her dress and easing it over her arms, careful not to hurt her. Then he helped her to slip on the robe and told her to go through to the living room. He moved quickly around her apartment while she walked gingerly towards the couch. Tommy laid out towels on the couch and helped her to lie down.

Perching beside her, he picked up a bowl, steaming with the warmth of the teabags he had fished out of the water. He gently parted her robe to show the bruising. His jaw grew tight but he didn’t comment. One at a time, he placed the tea bags on her skin. Their warmth seemed to be drawn into her body and the scent of the chamomile was relaxing her in a way she couldn’t explain. Finally, Tommy placed one on her neck, where one of the men had held her to the ground, and one on her jaw, where they hit her. His thumb smoothed over her cheek while his hand cupped her jaw, holding the bag in place.

“How do you know so much about this stuff?” She asked curiously.

Tommy’s expression was pinched. His eyes grew cold for a moment before he closed them and took a deep breath. When he opened them again they were kind and edged in sadness. “How much do you know about my father?”

Frowning, she said, “Psychopath, mass murderer with a vendetta for the Glades. Blackmailed Moira Queen, murdered Robert Queen, kidnapped Walter. And of course, he was the Dark Archer.”

Nodding, Tommy began to pick off the now-cold tea bags, placed them in a second bowl, and patted her skin dry with a towel. “He was never very close to me and my Mom when I was little. He was at the office a lot. He tried, I think, at times. He could be loving when he wanted to, but there was always _something_ there. I was too young to understand, but now looking back, I think it was a selfishness that tainted everything he did. He only ever did nice things for others if he would get something out of it, never for the act of giving itself.

“Turn over, I’ll do your back now.”

Felicity sat up, slipped off the robe, and lay down on her front, pillowing her face on her arms while she watched him thoughtfully, listening to him sharing this private part of himself.

He began placing new, warm tea bags over the injuries on her back, shoulders and legs. “Then my Mom was killed. She died and it was like any little piece of good in him turned to dust. He left me in that house for years. There was a nanny and a housekeeper, and they did their best for me, but I wanted my Father. When he came home… well, I realized pretty quickly that the loneliness had been better. He had twisted himself into some kind of monster. He was so damn cold, except when he would just explode at me.

“Now I can see he was trying to make me like him - he wanted me to be his soldier. But all I knew was his scathing disappointment, his cruelty, and his temper. I would show up at Oliver’s house with some crappy story about how I tripped over my shoelaces and a brand new bruise. Ollie knew what was going on without me saying, we could always read each other like that. And Raisa, well she was a smart cookie. She would fuss over me, feed me, and patch me up. When it became clear this was going to be a regular thing, she taught me how to take care of myself too. Showed me which ointments to use for the pain, which one would heal things right up with barely a scar. She was a good port in a storm.”

He peeled the bags off and dried her skin gently, before draping her robe over her.

“How are you feeling?” He asked softly.

“Okay. It still hurts, but it’s better than it was, and… I feel calmer somehow.”

“That’s good,” he smiled. “I’m going to run you a bath now. I’m going to pour some witch hazel in it, it’ll fix you right up. Just rest here okay?”

“Okay.” She caught his hand in hers as he stood. “Thank you, Tommy. Really.”

He smiled softly, took the throw from the back of the sofa and tucked it around her. “Anytime, Felicity. Just try not to make a habit of it, okay?”

~~~

“Felicity… Felicity, wake up honey.”

Her eyelids felt heavy. Tommy was crouched next to her, brushing her hair from her face. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, the throw still wrapped around her.

“Your bath is ready. Just sit in it for ten minutes if you don’t want a long soak. You’ll thank yourself tomorrow, trust me.”

“‘Kay.”

He helped her to her feet and guided her to the bathroom. The tub was full and smelled strange but good. There was a fresh cup of tea on the flat edge of the tub and fluffy clean towels stacked on the chair along with fresh button-up pajamas. She tried not to think too hard about the image of Tommy going through her dresser drawers. It was so nice to have someone pampering her like this, that it was definitely worth the trade-off.

“There’s some Arnica here,” Tommy indicated a container on the vanity. “Put it on every bruise after your bath.” He hesitated in the doorway for a moment. “I’m going to go watch the basketball game in the living room if that’s okay with you. I just want to make sure you don’t drown - those painkillers are really strong.”

“Sure, that’s fine. You know where everything is, make yourself comfortable. Thanks Tommy.” She smiled and closed the door, but left it unlocked.

She sank into the water with a sigh. After spending a couple of minutes washing the grime, sweat and tea stains off her body, she closed her eyes and rested her head back on the little bath pillow, letting her arms float on the top of the water.

Thinking about what Tommy had told her tonight, she replayed the last year - the Undertaking, Tommy saving Laurel and narrowly escaping CNRI before its collapse, the way he expressed any grief for his father’s death by immediately undoing as much of the damage as he could before the board of Merlyn Global decided to liquidate. Then mending his relationship with Oliver, helping the team - more and more as the months went by.

Their own friendship - built largely on standing shoulder to shoulder and telling Oliver when he’s wrong and watching his back when he’s right. That and really good wine.

And now this new information. A new lens to see things through. A new understanding of Tommy’s insecurities, his distaste for violence - no-matter how deserved, his passion for helping the vulnerable, the free clinic he opened in his mother’s honor, and the battered women’s shelter he funded from his own trust fund.

The water cooled so she climbed out, pulled the plug and dried off. She applied the salve to her legs and pulled on her pajama bottoms, then stood in front of the vanity mirror to work on the ones on her torso, neck and face. There were some in the middle of her back which she couldn’t reach. After a moment, where she looked at her reflection in the mirror weighing her options, she held the towel in front of her body and opened the door.

“Tommy, could you give me a hand?” She called down the hall. Retreating back into the warmth of the bathroom, she could hear his footsteps, and then a soft knock before he poked his head around the door.

“You okay?”

“Yes, I could just use some help putting the Arnica on my back.”

He dipped his head in a quick nod and picked up the small tub. Turning her back to him, Felicity held the towel over her chest and tried not to flinch as he carefully daubed the salve onto her skin. When he was done, he screwed the lid on with deft fingers and asked, “Anything else?”

“No, that’s great, thanks. I’ll be out in a minute.”

He smiled and closed the door behind him.

As she buttoned her pajama top, she frowned, there was something nagging at her in the back of her brain. She was forgetting something? Or something was missing? And then it clicked. This whole night, Tommy hadn’t flirted with her once. He had undressed her, seen her in her underwear, put tea all over her body, and now rubbed cream on her bare back. They usually zinged each other as a matter of habit, they had a playful banter which they enjoyed. Naturally that had fallen away in the light of the day’s events. Relieved that she had pinpointed what was bothering her, she went to find him in the living room.

He was lounging on the couch with a beer in one hand and his feet up on the table, looking completely relaxed. She smiled and sat next to him, kicking his feet off the table.

“You know the rules, Merlyn.”

He smirked and kicked his shoes off before placing them back on the table and wriggling his toes. “Better?”

“Better,” she agreed. Resting her head on his shoulder, she added, “and so am I, thanks to you.”

Tucking her under his arm in a hug, he said, “It was my genuine pleasure, Smoak.”

“A Hawkeye reference? Really?” She said, exasperated.

He chuckled and planted a kiss in her hair.

A little while later when she began to fall asleep, he helped her into bed and promised to lock the door behind him.

She smiled as she snuggled down into her bed, content in the knowledge that she was going to be okay, in fact, they both were.


End file.
